DHB team makes the World Cup outsiders suffer
This game ends very clearly: the DHB women's team puts dwarf Iran in its place at the World Championship and books its ticket to the main round ahead of time. Despite the resounding victory, national coach Gaugisch is not completely satisfied. The game against Poland will now point the way forward.
Second game, second victory: Germany's handball players have booked their ticket to the main round of the World Cup ahead of time with a festival of goals. The team of national coach Markus Gaugisch outclassed Iran 45:22 (25:12) and thus secured their participation in the second phase of the tournament even before the final preliminary round matchday.
"We won clearly, nobody got injured, everyone got a workload - everything was okay," said Gaugisch coolly. Captain Alina Grijseels spoke of an "absolute must-win. It was also well deserved."
Johanna Stockschläder scored eight goals in front of 1,800 spectators at the Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, Denmark, the most goals for the German Handball Federation (DHB) team, who could have won even higher against the underdogs due to their imperfect defense. At times, even Germany's record World Cup win from 2007, a 45:12 victory over Paraguay, seemed attainable.
"We're not entirely satisfied with the defense in the first half because we let them play too much," complained Grijseels in the face of more than 20 goals conceded. Gaugisch would also have liked "a few solutions" from his team to be "a little more confident".
Warming up for the groundbreaking duel
Germany now go into the preliminary round final against Poland on Monday (20.30 hrs/Sportdeutschland.TV) with the optimum score of 4:0 points. Despite the early qualification, the match is of great importance for the rest of the tournament because the points from the preliminary round against the teams that have also qualified will be taken into the main round. "From now on, our full focus is on Poland," said Grijseels.
For the DHB team, the game against the underdogs turned out to be a better warm-up for the groundbreaking duel. Gaugisch used the game to give as many players in his squad as possible time on the pitch. Backcourt player Annika Lott, who had suffered a blow to her shoulder in the 31:30 loss to Japan in the World Cup opener, was rested and replaced by Mareike Thomaier.
Iran is still a handball dwarf
The Iranians tried to pose a challenge to the DHB women at the start with a seven-against-six defense. This plan had little success: initially, a few gaps opened up in the German circle. However, ball losses and technical errors helped the German team to score numerous easy goals.
The difference in class in the first international duel between the two nations became apparent early on. The German team took a four-goal lead for the first time at 9:5 (14') and extended it to ten goals within a few minutes - 20:10 (23'). Iran, who had already conceded 15:35 against Poland at the start of the tournament, now made more and more mistakes and Gaugisch made a lot of changes. After the change of ends, the handball dwarf finally ran out of steam.
It is still unclear who Germany will face in the main round for a place in the quarter-finals. In all likelihood, a duel with the highly rated co-hosts Denmark awaits. The three other possible opponents are Romania, Serbia and Chile.
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In the upcoming clash against Poland, the victorious DHB women's handball team aims to maintain their momentum, recognizing the importance of the points gained in the preliminary round for the main round. Meanwhile, DHB's national coach Gaugisch utilized their dominance over Iran as a valuable warm-up for the crucial match against Poland.
As the World Championships progress, the handball powerhouse Germany continues to leave no doubts about their supremacy. During their recent game against Iran, the DHB team displayed an impressive performance, securing their place in the main round with a decisive victory, scoring an impressive 45 goals while conceding only 22.
Source: www.ntv.de
